A Different Kind of Sage
by Wolvertique
Summary: AU fic: How Sage could have left the Hellfire Club in a different X-Universe...


Enter: Sage

Story Note: This is not part of any X-men universe I know of. It's just an idea I got so clearly that I had to write it down, and it came in "movie" format to me. Anyway, hope you enjoy this one-shot story.   
  
Also, if you're interested in a sequel, I'll tell you right now, I don't know why Charles did what he did below...so suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks! Enjoy!   
  
Sage:

I awoke in my quiet room above the Hellfire Club's New York office and smiled like a cat. It was part of my regular morning routine for the past ten years. I was actually thinking about the latest news in my head, getting things organized and sorted for Charles. He would appreciate the latest facts, I mused, stretching like a cat in my silk sheets and stroking my skin idly. And there was a new mutant the Club had captured. They were going to throw him my way today. Having a reputation as a wicked and sensual telepath had its privileges.   
  
I entered my shower, using one of the horrid floral scents I'd been using since I started this spy game, and washed myself languidly. I thought of the day I'd finally leave this club for hedonists and power-mad mutants. Even now I worried that I'd been here for too long.   
  
I finished, getting into my power uniform, which was based on some undergarments from the 17th and 18th centuries. The benefit of this particular outfit was that it gave me plenty of space to run in. The skirts were slit up the sides and front. My sleeves were slashed open from shoulder to wrist and would detach easily, if there was need.   
  
I sighed and made my way down to my office, with the usual admiring, lecherous, and wary glances following me. Few had ever acted on their desires, and only one had walked out of my apartment unassisted after the whipping I'd administered.   
  
After a little while, Emma Frost entered my office and placed a red file on my desk, smiling widely. "He'll be all yours, dear. I hope you like him. He should last longer than your usual toys."   
  
I gave her a soft, sensual, wicked smile, groaning inside. How would I pull punches with someone who could survive a lot of damage? And where was Charles? He usually contacted me while I was still in my apartment. I had no sign of him yet, and he had not warned me last week that he would be late. I purred to Emma, "I'm sure the experience will be ... educational. I will, of course, be left undisturbed?" I licked my lips while thinking of the ways I could get a mutant, a distrustful and hurting mutant besides, out of here without being noticed.   
  
Emma laughed. "Oh, dear, don't you know? We all know better than to disturb an artist at her work."   
  
She left me then, and I opened the file. I froze. Delightful. This was one of Charles' X-men, and one of the hardest to deal with. He already had difficulty with trust. I closed my eyes, smiling, and thought furiously about how I could work to persuade the Wolverine to go with my plans.  
  
Wolverine:

Damn it all. I hurt all over. My flayed arm was healing, of course, but with the random electric shocks and the cuffs they had on me...I couldn't move without increasing the intensity of the shock. Made it hard to think. Have to think to get out. Can't do random berserk stuff because of pain. That's how Sabretooth is. He's crazy. I'm not.   
  
Great. Someone's whipping the skin on my back again. That really pisses me off. A prissy, officious, condescending voice came from behind me. "Has the animal learned anything in its time with us?"   
  
Hell, I'd rather be an animal than a bastard human like this guy. A titter came from him. Torturing bastard. Give me five minutes out of these cuffs and I'll make him sad he was born.   
  
"Apparently, it can't speak. Good. It is being moved now for playtime."   
  
I was lowered into a metal cage with more current running through it. The cage was set on a track and went down a corridor, then stopped before one door, which opened. The cage also opened up and raised, then threw me out. (Not hard to do to someone bound hand and foot.)   
  
I growled in pain. Damned shocks.   
  
Sage:

I wasn't sure if the office was bugged today. I hadn't time for a proper sweep this morning, so I sat at my desk as I heard the track bringing Wolverine to me. I sat with my face set in its usual amused mask as the cage threw him onto my floor (and a beautiful rug I'd gotten last year...ah, well).   
  
I walked over and, closing the door, said for the benefit of anyone who might be listening, "Ready to have some fun?"   
  
He remained still on the floor, apparently trying to ignore me. I sighed. This was not going to be easy, especially since anything I said could be overheard.   
  
I took down the cuff remover from the wall above my desk, along with a short whip. I stood where he could see me and asked, "Do you like having those cuffs on?"   
  
He snarled. I couldn't really blame him. Then I felt a hard blast into my head. _Charles?_   
  
_I need both of you out of there, Tessa. Now!_ I blinked.   
  
_Charles? Blowing my cover right now? What...I don't know..._   
  
_Doesn't matter. I need both of you here at the mansion. Yesterday._   
  
_But Charles? How? Charles?_ He was out of my head again, cutting off communication so abruptly my knees sagged and I gasped. Wolverine was staring at me darkly. I got an idea and walked around the desk, getting out some paper. I pouted, playing for time, "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way, won't we?" I wrote a short note and held it before his eyes. Once he'd read it, I released his leg and wrist cuffs and stepped back.   
  
Wolverine:

What the hell is wrong with this woman? She was playing with me, and then she went blank. Was she crazy or sick? If sick, I could have an advantage.   
  
Now...I smell panic and ... fear?   
  
She wrote something at the desk and showed it to me. It said, "Play along and we both get out of here alive and relatively unharmed. I'll release your cuffs. If you agree, rip up this note and tell me to go to hell." She then poked at my cuffs, and I was free.   
  
Just for the emotional satisfaction, I knocked her backward onto her desk, held my claws on my right hand to her throat, and snarled out, "Go to hell, bitch!"   
  
Her eyes widened as I threw her back, then she smiled, a genuine smile. She mouthed, "Good," even though I was scratching her skin a little. She then whispered, "Now, cry out in pain."   
  
I was confused, so I tried to think. She whispered again, "If you don't, I'll have to really hurt you."   
  
I nearly laughed out loud. There was no way this silly kid could hurt me. But she wasn't hurting me, and maybe she really had a plan to get out. She had freed me. So I let out a growl and waited.   
  
She moved her hands, asking me to let her up. I pulled back, and she walked over to a CD player behind her desk. A high quality CD started playing...a whipping? Jeez, she is a psycho.   
  
A small hole opened up in the floor, maybe wide enough to fit me if I held my breath. I went down, and she followed me.   
  
It was dark, and there was barely enough space for both of us, after the floor closed up. She pressed a button, and a disgusting smell came from our left as a door to ... ugh. A sewer. We were escaping through a sewer. 

  
Sage:

I knew they would probably try to track us by my use of the teleportation device, so I kicked off my shoes and started running. "Pull the cuffs off and move it," I said, as I reached the ladder out. As I made my way up the ladder, I heard the splash of the cuffs being thrown and the felt his hot gaze on my butt.   
  
"Who are you? What's going on?" he asked, not unreasonably.   
  
"Let's just say I'm an old friend of Charles' and I'm trying to get you back with the X-men, but we need to make a ... pit stop for some camouflage." I scanned the outside for observers before I lifted the manhole cover. There was no one else in the alley, so I climbed out.   
  
Wolverine leaped out on his own. "Where?" he asked again. I smiled. "Bob and Jim's Novelty Sex Shoppe. The owners are ... old friends." He rolled his eyes at me.   
  
I headed for the shop and scouted ahead telepathically. Oh, thank the Gods. Bob was there. I touched him gently, as we'd arranged, so that when we walked in, he was there to lock the door.   
  
Wolverine walked in casually, and Bob stared at him. "_Nice_ new boyfriend, Tessa. Just camo, or more?"   
  
I smiled. "He'll do...he can get us to where the taxis stop. Still got my things?"   
  
"Aired out last weekend, doll. Here you go." He gave me a short leather miniskirt, a small leather bustier, a decent pair of flats, and the debugger I'd stashed with him. I threw the debugger to Wolverine. "Push the button, then run it over your arms. It'll disable the last few nanos in them." Then I took off my costume and put on the clothing.   
  
Bob coughed and started humming _Getting to Know You_ under his breath. Wolverine just looked, good and long, as I changed. When I was done, he tossed the debugger back to me. I threw it to Bob, who moved as if to throw it back to Wolverine. Wolverine just stared at him, and Bob stopped and saluted him instead.   
  
"Godspeed, dear," he said, unlocking and opening the door for us. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."   
  
I quirked an eyebrow at him. "Oh, I think I can be better than that." He grinned and waved, and I left with Wolverine.   


Wolverine:

What the hell. I've gone with my instincts before and ended up in worse places. But I needed some answers. Why had this woman taken me out of the Hellfire Club? Was she an old pal of Chuck's or something else? What was going on, and where were we going? And who strips in front of two men as if we weren't there?   
  
Well, okay, I had to admit I hadn't minded that part much. I'd stopped to admire the view, like anyone else would. But it was just weird. Damn it, one of us knows more than she's telling, and I think it's about time she tells.   
  
Once we got out of the sex store, I tried again. "So where are we going, and what's your name?"   
  
She started acting strange, all giggly and clingy. "Aw, big guy already forgotten? We're going to Charles' house for a little party, silly! And you remember Tessa, don't you?" She pressed her chest against me and turned my head just right, so I could see the group of people on the street corner watching us. I rolled my eyes. Going to party with Charles. Summers would die of shock. Which would make it worth it, of course.   
  
She kissed me, which I didn't mind, and pulled me farther down the street. We kept walking for a few blocks, with her annoying babbling as a cover, until the streets were a little less dirty, there were occasional semi-respectable businesses, and cars were being parked on the street on purpose.   
  
She smiled and waved, and I saw a car pulling up. A sweet Southern accented voice came from inside, asking, "Logan, honey, what's going on? Who's your friend?"   
  
Of course. It would have to be Rogue, but I asked anyway. "Rogue? What are you doing here?"   
  
"No one needs to ask what you're doing here, do they, Wolverine?" The wise-ass preppy voice of Scott Summers continued. "Glad to see you have finally found the right woman, though, Logan." I rolled my eyes. I was so damned tired and pissed and confused that when Scott finally got in a good zinger, I couldn't respond to it.   
  
My companion Tessa, however, did. "Thank you for the compliment, Cyclops. I'm pleased to see you think I'm good enough for a man who's constantly championed new and uncertain members of the X-men, is a loyal member of the team, and is willing to break unnecessary rules to get the job done. I'll do my best to live up to that role."   
  
I stared at her. Who WAS this chick, anyway? Rogue laughed like hell, and Scott sputtered a little and then shut up. We got going, and for once, Scott had nothing to say.   
  
Well, for a little while. Then he insisted on blabbing some more. 


End file.
